Wings Clipped
by Smarty Cat
Summary: The listing for my Gundam Wing vignettes, drabbles, ficlets, and poemfics. Any self contained work under 1000 words can be found here. Pairings labeled within. Currently contains 1xR, 2xH, and 11x13.
1. Roses 11x13

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Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is owned by Sunrise and Sotsu Agency and distributed in America exclusively under license by Bandai Entertainment. If Gundam Wing was mine, Treize would have never been the incredibly complex man that he was because I am far too simple-minded to have made him that way.

This was just a simple writing exercise I decided to do while trapped in the car traveling to my aunt's house. Please don't hold me to any type of accuracy.

Title: Roses  
**Genre**: general, romance  
**Pairings**: 11x13 (Une x Treize)  
**Date Completed**: May 30, 2002  
**Word count**: 488  
**Summary**: A short little ficlet featuring Une's thoughts on Treize and Mariemaia after the wars were over. Not really that angsty. More introspective. Slightly bittersweet.

Mister Treize loved roses.

It seems so unusual for a man to have an obsession with a flower, especially the flower of love, but no one would ever deny that Treize was an unusual man. He inspired such devotion. Men willingly fought and died for him, his very name a battle cry. That has not changed at all. And I... I loved--no, I _love_ him.

I was among the many that walked a path of self-destruction to please him. I tore apart my very nature in an attempt to be both what he _wanted_ and what I thought he _needed_. I regret that it took his death and "mine" to make me realize that just by being myself I fulfilled both categories.

The truth always comes too late, and hindsight is always 20/20. Such is the bitter reality of life.

Then I was given a second chance. My mission to protect Treize's beloved Earth and the girl who represented it led me to his daughter.

Should I have felt angry and betrayed that _my_ Treize had a child with another woman?

Perhaps.

But how could I when Treize himself never knew she existed? And I had long ago accepted that Treize and I could never be together as completely as I wanted. A soldier and her commanding officer? Romanticized in fiction perhaps, but just not done in reality.

And I regret.

I regret that neither one of us had the courage to defy military protocol and tradition. Our brief time together could have been enhanced so much by physical intimacy, yet I still wonder if Treize would have allowed such closeness to develop between us even if it had not been taboo. Though always in the spotlight, he was very much a reserved and private man. I know he cared for me, and he even admitted it at times, rare and cherished as they are, but there was always a distance between us.

I regret that too.

Was that gap because we were commander and subordinate?

Could it have been overcome?

I will never know because of his death, and I will now admit that I believe that even had he lived I would still never know. I am no longer suited to civilian life--was I ever truly to begin with?--and Treize would have never taken a wife that was involved in the military.

I am a soldier.

And a delegate for peace.

I am a woman.

And now a mother.

I was destined to protect.

Mariemaia lives with me now in a comfortable villa, and the air is filled with the scent of roses. They grow freely in the garden and under the windows. Lush climbing vines covered in fragrant blossoms stretch along the outside walls. And Treize's daughter, the most vibrant bloom that he never got to see, plays among them, watchful of their sharp protective thorns.

Treize would have wanted it that way after all.


	2. Angel Hair 2xH

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Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is owned by Sunrise and Sotsu Agency and distributed in America exclusively under license by Bandai Entertainment. Be thankful that I don't own Gundam Wing as it would have deteriorated into melodramatic shoujo complete with bubbles and sparkles ten minutes into the first episode. 'Cause I'm fluffy like that.

This was written in response to a drabble challenge made by Raine Yuy and Miaka Mouse that centered around "hair." Drama was preferred. Maudlin with a corny title is what they got.

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Title: Angel Hair  
**Genre**: drama, romance, general  
**Pairings**: 2xH (Duo x Hilde)  
**Date Completed**: July 21, 2003  
**Word count**: 104  
**Summary**: Duo's getting a haircut... for a very special purpose. 

He felt strangely bereft without the familiar weight down his back. Light. Empty. Without the heavy locks his whole sense of balance and identity was lost.

What would she say when she saw him?

What would she think?

His throat tightened as his hand curled around the doorknob.

She sat bathed in sunlight, a chestnut halo further illuminating her pale face and wide eyes. And Hilde smiled at him, one hand rising to gently curled locks self-consciously.

"Thank you, Duo."

The nurse at her side smiled as well.

"Congratulations, Mr. Maxwell. Your wife's in remission."

And he realized that sometimes it's worth losing yourself.


	3. Reflectere 1xR

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Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is owned by Sunrise and Sotsu Agency and distributed in America exclusively under license by Bandai Entertainment. I am incapable of subtlety and ambiguity so if I owned Gundam Wing those helmets would never have gotten in the way in episode 48 and shipping in the fandom would be far less diverse. Be glad I don't own it because everything is a lot more interesting as it is. [grins]

Written for www. livejournal. com/ community/ swabi700/ 's fifth challenge: Attraction. I like this one. I really do. 'Twas fun to take so many of the reasons that people give to justify hating Relena and then twist them up a bit. She's a dynamic character, damnit! So, yes, my biases come shining through in this one. [wry smile]

Title: Reflectere  
**Genre**: general, romance  
**Pairings**: Rx1 (Relena x Heero)  
**Date Completed**: August 21, 2004  
**Word count**: 700 (perfect! faints)  
**Summary**: Relena is only human. Heero is too. And humans, despite their many flaws, possess free will.

For all of my supposed wisdom beyond my years, I do not think I will ever understand the logic of attraction, of love. Which is no doubt to be expected as logic is anathema to them. There is something fundamentally wrong, something almost evil, to try to apply reason to one of the basest and most powerful human emotions.

And yet I find myself attempting to look at our relationship rationally, to determine what it is that draws me to him and him to me.

It is easy enough to pinpoint what is that I find attractive about him. He is physically stunning: that lithe figure, strong muscles, and dusky golden skin; alert posture; a face like a stern archangel; those amazing eyes. Then, of course, there is his air. He exudes mystery, challenge, and danger. He is the stuff of every young girl's fantasy made flesh and blood and bone. I must not forget his mind, however. He is exceptionally intelligent and quite well educated in an array of unusual, even arcane, subjects. I could talk with him for hours and, after a little prodding on my part to get the conversation going, have done so.

He fascinates me like no other man I have ever known.

Yes, it is easy enough to see why I have been falling for him for years.

But what could he possibly see in me?

I am not beautiful. I have been told that often enough. My breasts are too small; my waist, hips, and legs are too thick. My hair is too dark and dull, closer to brown than blonde, and hopelessly straight. My bangs are too short, allowing all who see me to gaze upon my too thick eyebrows. My nose is too upturned, and my lips are too thin.

I am no great beauty. But when he looks at me the way he sometimes does... I feel like one. Which is all the more silly as he is a man to value utility far more than aesthetics. Every little thing that I would agonize over regarding my appearance he would brush aside. I can almost hear him now. If it does not adversely affect my vision why should I care that my eyes are not perfectly level?

Then, of course, there are my less tangible shortcomings. I have heard them expounded on in great detail as well. I am too experienced and worldly for my age but too naive to recognize the true evil of the world around me. I am too forgiving and too indecisive but too stubborn to admit when my principles and beliefs are wrong. I am too great a prodigy and too important to the world community to be allowed back in a classroom but too uneducated to be considered truly competent by my political peers. I am too young to wield the power I have.

I am too everything and never enough.

Well, yes, I suppose that sums me up rather nicely. I am a living bundle of flaws and contradictions, and the world remains quite ready to point all of them out for me.

It is good to know I am still considered human.

Sometimes I feel as if I have lost that designation, as if being what and who I am should require me to be somehow greater, somehow superhuman. I fall far short of that ideal, however, and I know it. And that knowing sometimes makes me feel subhuman. I have failed. I have failed my people and my world. I have failed my fathers. I have failed _him_. Forgive me my imperfections and my fallibility for I am just another mortal, just another young woman newly initiated into the world of adults, barely more than a girl, than a child.

People say I am not worthy of him. I tend to agree. But he decides who is worthy of him, not anyone else. Not them and not I.

And it is _my_ name he calls to fill the silence, and _my _figure he seeks in a crowded room.

I do not know why, and I am almost afraid to speculate.

But I am thankful.

Is _this_ love?

I hope it is.


	4. War's End

I found this in its entirety (rife with spelling errors, diagramming lines, and scrunched word additions) in my date book while I was making note of all the projects I have to complete this semester. Scribbled across the first week of November. Obviously nothing ever happens the first week of November and I don't need that space at all.

Nope. Not. At. All.

I don't remember when I wrote this or even writing it for that matter, and since my date book spans the last four years it's no wonder. Still, enjoy.

**Disclaimer:** Gundam Wing is owned by Sunrise and Sotsu Agency and distributed in America exclusively under license by Bandai Entertainment. Not mine. Believe me, I could use the cash.

**Title**: War's End  
**Date Completed**: September 4, 2005  
**Genres**: General  
**Pairings**: None (shocking!)  
**Word count**: 274  
**Summary**: Relena's thoughts at the war's end.

It would be a day remembered for a lifetime, a defining moment frozen forever in memory. Still crystal sharp and painful now, as decades pass it would fade into the warm embrace of amber, mellowed and gilded through the faults of memory but forever there.

It would be a day remembered for a lifetime, this day of peace, of ceasefire, forgiveness, and unity. But the major actors in this bloody play of history would be lost to time, forgotten by all except for those with the temerity to face the haunted eyes of a child soldier.

She would not forget.

Without fear she would look into those eyes and let herself fall into their depths. If her mother's shameful and forlorn expression and refusal to meet her daughter's gaze were any indication, her own eyes were not so different.

Ironic that souls must be lost in exchange for serenity. An equivalency of trade, a trifle of parity. Something must be given for something to be received. Things must be lost if others are to be gained.

So be it then.

The great intricacy of humanity was so easily shattered against the walls of hatred, bitterness, and warfare. The child soldiers would be discarded and forgotten, and the diplomats would pick up the pieces.

Let the pieces fit together again.

Let the child soldiers be forgotten, but, above all, let them be free.

And let the dove be chained in their stead that the battle hawks may soar.

She would carry the chains of peace and reconstruction not as a burden but as an honor.

And she would always remember their eyes.

_Be happy now._


	5. Endless Waltz 1xR

**Disclaimer:** Gundam Wing is owned by Sunrise and Sotsu Agency and distributed in America exclusively under license by Bandai Entertainment. If it were mine, I would not be doing this.

I scribbled this down while waiting to meet some friends for dinner. There was not a lot of thought or planning put into it; it was more something simply to occupy the time, and Gundam Wing seems to be my fallback in-head movie even so many, many years later.

**Title**: Endless Waltz  
**Date Completed**: September 2, 2009  
**Genres**: General  
**Pairings**: Heero/Relena-ish  
**Word count**: 180  
**Summary**: At the time and in the moment, it can be hard to recognize the things that will change us.

these are the moments that define us  
that begin us

girl on a sunset beach  
boy in the lapping surf  
adrenaline, fear  
wasted effort at life's ending  
leading to a joint beginning  
utter confusion  
intrigue

staring across educational expanses  
passing in hallways  
invitation freely given most painfully refused  
threat

through a haze of tears  
kaleidoscope fragments of the world

horror, horror, horror  
innocents dead  
advocates dead  
allies dead  
all at boy's hand

boy's mistake, boy's penance  
boy's life is not his to take  
he claims too many others

girl resolved  
to find reason  
where reason is none  
to restore order  
where order is lost  
to brave chaos and dissent  
and stare down death  
because death is welcomed  
and understood  
and wears a familiar face

to fight with firm eye and silver tongue  
to waver and doubt and recover  
to turn even surrender into defiance  
to hope and dream and dare  
to survive  
to triumph  
to meet again

to do it all over again

girl and boy  
boy and girl  
catalysts

at the time  
defining moments lack definition of their own


	6. When Winter Comes

**Disclaimer**: Gundam Wing is owned by Sunrise and Sotsu Agency and distributed in America exclusively under license by Bandai Entertainment.

I was poking at the writing again. Muses were and are pretty hypothermic though; they need some warming up.

**Title**: When Winter Comes  
**Genre**: general  
**Pairings**: None  
**Date Completed**: December 9, 2010  
**Word count**: 333  
**Summary**: Relena ponders returning to her childhood home.

When winter comes, I will head homeward again.

In some ways I feel like a bird of summer, locked into clear migratory paths, only reversed. I will not seek the tropics and long, sunlit days to warm my bones. Instead I long for the chill of home. Winter's bird am I, heading back to the ancestral nest.

Home is where Mother resides still in that big house. She is not all alone, of course-one never can be with so many staff-but she is lonely nonetheless. She does not say so, but I see the sorrow in her eyes and note the way her hands will linger in the air where I have been. She was never the most demonstrative or joyful woman, but now it is as if she has lost her sense of purpose and does not know why she lingers there.

The memories bind us, naturally. I had my happy childhood, she her happy marriage. Father was inspiration, driving force, familial glue. He was often busy and often away, but his force of personality remained and kept the house filled with purpose and ambition. Mother was his vessel, and now that he is gone, she grows empty. His life and vitality seeped away and were never replaced.

I cannot be what my father was for her. I am pulled in too many directions, my attention devoted to matters that affect too many. No matter what accolades others may heap upon me, I will never have the presence that my father did. I cannot sustain her.

Make no mistake though, these are not hollow Christmases, and I by no means dread the going.

In solstice darkness, I will alight from the sky and make the drive alone. This is my moment; I will be going home. Mother will have a candle in the window, flickering, fragile, but burning valiantly for all that, and it will light my way.

It gives me hope, not for myself, not for the world, but for her.


End file.
